Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Pump-out

We were in Market Drayton about five years ago, when we first looked at the possibility of owning a narrowboat. There was a canal festival that weekend so, for us, the town has conjured memories of fender-makers and Morris Men, of leather-workers and water-jug-painters, and of the scarecrows that were part of a competition for the children.

Today we stopped in Market Drayton for a DIY pump-out and so (as with Wolverhampton – see Saturday's post) its associations have changed for ever! Getting a bit close to your own bodily waste is just one of those things about boating, but this was the first time I'd done Erin Mae's pump-out myself – one more "first" to chalk up. I'd been walking down the tow-path to investigate prices, when I encountered Mike and Diane (NB Epitome Two) whom we know from Great Haywood. Mike sold me a British Waterways pre-payment card that worked the BW pump-out machine – a lot cheaper than the average boatyard or marina would charge. Result! I suspect that, the older you get, the shorter the interval between pump-outs (or should that be pumps-out?).

3 comments:

@Mo – Now Mo, "rites of passage" sounds like a double-entendre, given the subject matter!

@Cap'n - In fact, Mike (who sold me the card) came down to check, which was kind. I've since discovered that the current price of such things is quite a mark-up on what I paid him. I'll have to treat him to a nice bottle of red wine when we catch up again!